The film’s theme, like the novel by the same name that I just published, is the obsessive thought that islanders have about there being treasure hidden in the sea. Aside from this, the film and the novel have nothing else in common; one takes place in Hoedik and the other in Ouessant, but they are guided by the same idea, a kindof mirage that leads to catastrophe; a boat that explodes, divers who die during an impossible task, island inhabitants swept away during an attempt to pull the wreck out of the sea… Perhaps the situation of these people should be explained before trying to understand their desires. In Hoedik, a priest, a good person, looks after the island as best he can, all the fishermen suffer from a poverty that is beyond our imagination. The island does not have a harbor, which means that you will get your feet wet when landing on the island, when landing is actually possible. The storm breaks off communication with the mainland. A boat circled the island for three days before being able to bring the doctor everyone was waiting for. There was no mail, no bread… (…) You cannot direct a scene in Hoedik as you would in a studio. You must win the trust of these people, live with them. It should be pointed out that they do not act in the film; they play at making a film, as you and I once played at war. What accents, what truth… Something that I had already experienced with Finis terræ.

Jean Epstein, Pour vous, in ID., Ecrits sur le cinéma, vol. I, Seghers, Paris 1974